I thought I would write about the trip, but also bring out some things that I believe Estonia would need. :D I was in Japan for 8 days and currently I am in love with it. We are already planning our next visit, which would hopefully be next March and then we could go to more places. For example Universal Studios Japan...

But anyway, if someone would be nice enough to tell me what kind of posts about Japan they would like to read, it would be great.  I mean should I write about my days as they went or should I write small articles like "behaviours in Japan that Estonia needs", "foods in Japan", "travel pictures" and so on? Which one would be better?

Anyway, about today's topic - I got used to some things in Japan so fast and now it is weird to get used to Estonia again.

1. Politeness and order

Japanese people are sooo polite. Honestly. Estonians are complete machos compared ot them!

Some good examples are for example going to the stores. Let's say you are buying an onigiri (rice roll) which costs about 120 yen. You give them 200. Then the cashier says something that should be that I will now take your 200 yen and give you 80 back. They also thank people a lot and so on.

For example on one evening we wanted to have dinner in this one place, but they did not have any vegetarian options. When we left, the waiter came to the door and bowed 90 degrees to apologize.

For example the bus came a bit early and people already went on it. The bus driver said that we have to get off again and that it was his mistake. He kept apologizing for 10 minutes and I felt bad about it :D

All the people walk really logically. You go one way on the left and come from the right. You do not just make your way through people. On the escalators you stand on the left side and if you are in a hurry, you take the right side. Metro stairs also have this system and arrows to show you where to walk. Everything is so... much in order!

For public transport, people queue up. Even if you are just waiting for a bus on the side of the road. You stand in a queue and won't bother other people.

Japanese people don't talk on the phone in public transport. You won't hear peoples' life stories or stories about last night's party. Even the loudspeaker says that please do not make any phonecalls when you are on the transport. And the best thing - people actually follow this rule!

2. Heated toilet seats

This is not a behaviour, but something I really wanted to write down and should exist here!! At first it was really unusual, but soon I started to love it. I mean, it is nice to go to a cafe or bar and sit on the warm toilet seat (most of the places also have desinfication for the seat). I also tried this bidet thingy and it was rather interesting. :D Could do with it.

All in all I was impressed by Japanese toilets. Also I wanted to bring out that in many places there were pads available. For free. Which is weird and I didn't like is that the toilet paper is only one paper thin! Like, why?!

3. 24/7 open stores

Actually I don't thing stores should be open 24/7, or at least it should be a thing that everything is open 24/7. In Japan, mose of the konbinis (small supermarkets) were always open and sometimes it was a true blessing. For example when we got home from Tokyo really late and hadn't prepared for breakfast or just wanted to get some snacks.

Which I also loved was that when you bought like a wrap or something they always offered to heat it up for you. I remember that one night we went home from karaoke and were hungry and I had some pizza margherita wrap and it was warm and cheesy and delicious. Also about 24/7 open stores...

4. Drink vending machines! 

I will never get tired of being excited over them. Like really - genius. Especially that you can buy both cold and hot drinks, not to mention hot soup. There are also food vending machines, for example one dedicated to ice cream or actual food like sandwiches. We didn't try out them, but we did have some coffees.



5. Hospitality

I have heard about Japanese people being really hospitable, but I was surprised how far it went. For example we went to eat ramen one time, as we had not tried it yet. I don't eat meat and it was a problem to pick a place. Instead of going somewhere and seeing if they had an option for me, they actually called to this ramen place and asked if they have veggie version. When we finally got there, they made sure about 100 more times that there is no meat and no meat based broth. This was super adorable. :D

Also when we were out for food or something, everyone always made sure we had full cups and snacks in front of us. You could just mention something or look around and then already someone went and brought you stuff. This politeness, helping and hospitality was so good that I kind of felt weirded out. :D I just wanted to give back somehow.

6. HUGE food portions

Whoever said that Japanese people are thin and eat little, was so wrong. Well, they are quite thin (more thin people than in Estonia, if you look around here), but the food portions... oh boy. On the first evening we went out to have udon, and the portion we had... well that was awesome. :D Basically at the end of every meal you were in agony because of the amount of food. :D



I will make a separate post about Japanese foods we tried and then I will also tell more about my weight and eating disorder things.

Sometimes in Estonia you go out to eat and get like a line and a dot on your plate, even if you want to have a stew or something you are expecting to be a lot of. In Japan it is "I hope there is not too much food, because it is good and I will eat it all but then I am too full". :D Anyway yes, I have never had such huge meals here.

I guess the difference is that there you don't usually have an appetizer, main course and dessert. You have one meal and that's that. Also most of the restaurants ore focused on one thing. For example there is ramen place, udon place, tempura place, soba place, okonomiyaki place and so on. There aren't huge menus that would have everything from the pasta to Asian style soup.

7. Sleeping in public transport

Everyone did it! From teenagers to salary men. I don't understand how people managed to get off at the right stops. Also if the train was really full, people even slept standing up. Just... slept.

One of us also learned how to sleep on the train, and I also rested my eyes for a bit. I never did fall asleep though. :D It was quite interesting to observe. It was also really quiet in the public transport mostly, so I guess people are sleeping well. In Estonia you usally don't need to take public transport for long enough to fall asleep, but it would be nice to do so when you are indeed riding for more than 15 minutes. :D



8. Hot towels at the restaurants and desinfecting your hands

I realllllly liked that in most places you are brought steaming hot wet towel to wipe your hands clean with. Especially if you come from outside and your hands are cold. It is nice and warm. Also, even when we were flying back to Estonia, on the plane they brought us these warm towels. I think it was such an awesome manner and I didn't have to run to bathroom every time I went somewhere.

Also we had our own desinfecting solutions with us that we used a lot, but at the same time there were many bottles with desinfication solution available in stores, cafes and restaurants. Just passing, you could clean your hands. I don't know if it was due to corona virus or not, but it was good to be able to use it. Especially if you had been shopping and going through clothes for example.

9. Wearing face masks 

This is common in Japan and isn't being done due to corona virus. People also wear masks when they don't have any make up on or look tired. I think it is nice, you just hide half of your face and do your own thing. I imagine if you wore a face mask in Estonia, most of the people would think that you are dying.

Wearing a mask is actually quite uncomforable, it gets really hot. Why I would like this to be done in Estonia? Because I would feel much better wearing a mask when I was sick and stop sharing my bacteria. Besides there are so many cute masks in Japan. With different pictures and designs and all. It is not only this simple hospital one, there are many better options. Mostly masks were worn in public places and in metros. And even really small kids had masks.

10. A bag over your face

Literally. If you went to a clothing store and wanted to try something, then you were given this mesh bag, which you had to put over your face. So you wouldn't get the clothes dirty. As I wore make up during the trip every day, it was really nice. The situations where you go to a store and find something you like, only to discover foundation or lipstick stain on it, really suck. Also it is difficult to try some things on if you have to pay so much attention on not getting it dirty. I thing this was genius.

11. Only female wagons on trains 

Yup. Between Tokyo and Tsukuba, usually first wagon was only for women, which was... interesting. My friend told me about it and one time we even were in it. :D

At the moment I can't think about anything else, but there are surely more things like this. I shall look forward to your thoughts on how should I blog about the trip - about every day separately or make those small articles. Also - thank you so much if you read through all of this.

Have you got anything to add if you have ever been to Japan? I really would love to hear your opinions. If I get a comment, I will add it to my next post. I am afraid I forgot a lot of cool things. :D

Anyway, I know this post is published on random time, but I will assure you that I will keep posting on Mondays and Fridays from now on. There was just a huge gap now which I will fill. Anyway - talk to you soon!